Wednesday July 31

Ghent

Today we got up, headed off to the train station, and went to Ghent for the day.  It is a beautiful old city in Flanders.  We walked from the train station up along the canals to the old section.  We had a couple of coffees. Then we went into the Sint-Niklaaskerk and Sint Baafskathedraal churches.  We paid our Euro to climb up to the top of the Het Belfort van Gent and get some shots of Ghent from on high.

Sint Niklaas

From Bell Tower

While up there we noticed a fort that hadn't been featured in our little tour book.  We trotted off across the canal, and paid entrance into the Gravensteen Castle.  It was excellent.  It featured what was probably the best audio guide we've come across, with a local comedian running the commentary as we toured through the medieval fortress.

Gravensteen

Look Way Up

It was well into the afternoon as we finished, so we found somewhere to have a little lunch.  Then we popped next door to Dulle Griet, something that is featured in our little booklet, and had a Kwak-a local pale ale type drink served in a styled glass.  I had to give them one of my shoes to borrow the glass, which they hauled up to the ceiling in a little basket.  We had a great conversation with a family of Swedes at the next table.  The conversation, as has happened several times before, started with them asking us what state we are from, us replying that we are Canadian, and then them apologizing profusely for having suggested we were American.  Funny.

 

My Shoe Being Confiscated

Kwak

After this, as we had just under two hours to make our way back to the train station, we wandered around some of the cobbled streets and got some photos.  We did stop for a coffee.  We didn't really need coffee but we needed facilities thanks to the Kwak.  We also survived a bit of a rain squall.  Neither of us was prepared with rainwear, but it was just a bit of a summer drenching.  After the train back to Brussels, we decided to pump up our walking km by walking from the train station back to the apartment.

Very Briefly Enjoying First Class Before Being Chased by Conductor

Todays kilometerage: 19.64 km